My best idea as a solution to 'finding evidence' is to embed it into course (and unit) design.

One aspect of the problem of finding evidence (that can undergird scholarship) is that, while The UTAS academic etc is prompting academics to pay attention, there is very little structural or process support -- infrastructure! -- to support individuals to engage in an integrated and holistic approach to quality at course level that also gives them individual outputs.
For example, I wrote an unsuccessful TDG application in Jan this year that aimed to support academics to embed scholarship into course/unit design. The feedback was it was 1) a strong application but did not fit the criteria for TDG and 2) that it sparked a conversation about the need for a stream of funding for developing scholarship at UTAS.
Academics (including me when I have been contracted to teach) tend to do unit level innovations that are not connected to the course outcomes AND which are interrupted by changing teaching loads. This is problematic for a lot of reasons, not just for casual or short term contract staff.
I think that a designed, course level approach to scholarship would enable academics to do research as part of a whole program. Individual outputs (e.g. innovations for their unit) could be aligned to and then related to course level outputs -- including possibly measures of learning outcomes over time. Linked to SERRU's aims, it also would enable evidence-based unit reviews to feed into course reviews.

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Col

4/4/2013 08:51:05 pm

Hi Jo,

Excellent ideas. I think what you expose is the assumptions that individuals should do it all by themselves for themselves. Building in mechanisms that return usable data makes sense, and if done consistently across a course would also enable individuals to also become part of team/program applications for teaching excellence.

Col

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Tracy Douglas

5/22/2013 09:25:49 am

I think that the key is to make sure that you have a range of evidence from peers (internal and external), students and self reflection as well as supporting evidence from the literature. Traditionally many academics have relied heavily on SETLs (now eValuate) which do not always provide reliable evidence from student perceptions. I agree with Jo that it is becoming more important to clearly link evidence to learning outcomes and so embedding it within the curriculum would enable this.

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